Ethics exemption

Published: Tuesday, February 26, 2013 at 08:00 AM.

The revolving door between the Florida Legislature and lobbying continues to spin at a dizzying pace — and lawmakers are in no hurry to make it stop.

Less than a week after a Senate committee unanimously approved a sweeping ethics reform bill — with one glaring deficiency — former Senate President Mike Haridopolos, who handed over his gavel to Don Gaetz in November, registered as a lobbyist of the executive branch. He joins former House Speaker Dean Cannon in the influence-peddling racket.

State law prohibits former legislators from lobbying their colleagues for two years after they leave office, but that ban doesn’t apply to lobbying the executive branch.

That would change, and rightly so, under a comprehensive ethics reform bill sponsored by Sen. Jack Latvala, R-St. Petersburg; the legislation would extend the two-year ban to executive branch lobbying.

Alas, an amendment to the bill, passed without discussion, would delay implementing that change until after 2014. In other words, current legislators are exempted.

How convenient. And how typical to exempt themselves from rules others must follow.

Latvala justified the wait. “As opposed to changing the rules in the middle of the game we are changing the rules in the beginning of a term of office,” he said. “Game,” indeed. It’s as if some lawmakers might already have their post-legislative lobbying gigs already lined up and ready to go.

The revolving door between the Florida Legislature and lobbying continues to spin at a dizzying pace — and lawmakers are in no hurry to make it stop.

Less than a week after a Senate committee unanimously approved a sweeping ethics reform bill — with one glaring deficiency — former Senate President Mike Haridopolos, who handed over his gavel to Don Gaetz in November, registered as a lobbyist of the executive branch. He joins former House Speaker Dean Cannon in the influence-peddling racket.

State law prohibits former legislators from lobbying their colleagues for two years after they leave office, but that ban doesn’t apply to lobbying the executive branch.

That would change, and rightly so, under a comprehensive ethics reform bill sponsored by Sen. Jack Latvala, R-St. Petersburg; the legislation would extend the two-year ban to executive branch lobbying.

Alas, an amendment to the bill, passed without discussion, would delay implementing that change until after 2014. In other words, current legislators are exempted.

How convenient. And how typical to exempt themselves from rules others must follow.

Latvala justified the wait. “As opposed to changing the rules in the middle of the game we are changing the rules in the beginning of a term of office,” he said.
“Game,” indeed. It’s as if some lawmakers might already have their post-legislative lobbying gigs already lined up and ready to go.

It’s a popular and lucrative transition. The Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald recently reported that more lobbyists are paid to lobby the executive branch, which doles out more than $50 billion in vendor contracts and grants, than to lobby the Legislature.

We understand that bills are amended in committee, and what begins the process often looks quite different at the end. This delayed change in lobbying is therefore disappointing, but not unexpected.

The key is to keep such future changes to a minimum, because the bill still contains several good reforms, such as:

● Prohibiting legislators from voting on bills on which they declare a conflict of interest. Currently, they can vote on such issues, then declare their conflict within 15 days.

● Restricting how legislators can use political funds called Committees of Continuous Existence to pay for personal expenses.

● Prohibiting legislators, state and local officials from taking jobs with state colleges and public agencies while they are in office.

● Increasing the enforcement powers of the state Commission on Ethics to include filing liens on property, or garnishing the wages, of someone who doesn’t pay fines for improperly filling out financial disclosure forms.

Senate President Gaetz and House Speaker Will Weatherford from day one have made ethics reform their signature issue, and so far they have maintained that commitment. They must ensure that their chambers’ respective bills don’t get watered down to the point that the final product only pays lip service to more ethical and transparent government.

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